1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relates generally to the field of speakerphones. More particularly, embodiments of the present invention relates to the field of wireless speakerphone implementations.
2. Background of the Invention
In a speakerphone environment it is desirable to use multiple microphones for better system performance. For reasons including convenience and mobility, it is desirable to use wireless microphones as the input to the speakerphone pod. However, using such wireless microphones presents a number of challenges.
One problem is how to provide a reference signal from the speaker to the wireless microphones to ensure proper operation of an acoustic echo canceller. Another problem is whether it is necessary to add two way air interfaces between the speaker and the microphone solely for the purpose of sending the reference signal from speaker to the microphones. Another problem is how to reduce the processor power (MIPS) requirements on the microphone part to make the architecture simple for reduced power consumption. Extending battery life and weight of a presenter's microphone are considerations as well in a wireless microphone speakerphone system.
Expanded corded microphones exist that can be used in a speakerphone environment. Use of corded microphone environments alleviates the aforementioned problems because the reference signal and signals from multiple microphones can be sent to the speakerphone pod over the wires. Moreover, the close proximity of all of the corded microphones in the system does not require that separate echo cancellers be used, as would be the case with wireless microphones that are placed, for example, at different corners of a large conference room. However, corded microphones are limited in range to the length of the cord. Cord length is limited for safety and aesthetic reasons.